Italy Trip: Day Two - Carrara Marble and Temple

Day two in Italy, we woke up and headed straight for the mountains. The mountains in Carrara are white. It looks like snow, but actually, it is marble!

You can see from these two videos I took as we approached the mountains how the white tips look like snow.

We were set to explore the marble quarries where marble has been mined for centuries. The marble for Michelangelo, other artists, and for the Rome temple all came from these mountains. Once we arrived at the base, we put on hard hats and orange vests before we loaded into jeeps for a crazy Jurrasic-park type ride up the mountain.

We went on the same roads that all the mining trucks take and they wind higher and higher with big drop-offs. Sometimes we had to stop and wait for the huge trucks to pass. I don't like heights, so I was terrified. Everything was white - covered in marble dust - and we passed bridges and bumped into each other on the bouncy ride. We also learned these were the same roads that James Bond races through in the beginning of Quantum of Solace.







I was relieved when we made it to the top and parked.

A happy look that we made it, and a traumatized-from-the-ride look.

We listened to the procedures for mining marble, picked up marble pieces to examine (I pocketed a couple small pieces for home later), and enjoyed the gorgeous view from the top of the mountain, over the marble, and out to the sea.

It was worth the treacherous drive up for the beautiful views and magnificent marble. But then it was time to head back down! I thought it would be way worse going down, but it didn't end up being quite so bad.

At the bottom, we stopped to watch how the marble taken from the mines is cut and sculpted. We were able to see the beginnings of a project being laser-cut.

A lot of the projects here are secret so we weren't allowed to take photographs. But we headed to another workshop where we toured an entire studio of sculpturing.

Here they keep the big blocks of marble and use them for the commissioned projects. The statues for the temple were all sculpted at this studio.

I love marble!

Before we entered the studio, Brigham gave chiseling the marble a go.

He thought it was pretty tough work.

Inside, we watched workers as they sculpted and chiseled and we admired many pieces of art.

The butterfly's wings in the dome are paper thin. We had no idea how the crafter was able to get marble that thin! It was incredible.

We left the marble quarries and headed from Carrara back to Rome. On the way back, we stopped at a gas station to get lunch.

Gas stations in Italy are much fancier than gas stations in the US. They have multiple restaurants with places to sit down and eat. Brigham and I shared some pizza and a sandwich loaded with mozzarella cheese before we headed on the road again.

Before we knew it, we were approaching the Rome, Italy temple!

A beautiful temple, it felt a little bit like we were coming home in such a foreign place.

We also ran into a former BYU Volleyball player, Sanders, and I stalk-took his picture in the waiting area. Except he noticed and was looking right at the camera.

The details of the temple and artwork, plus the Spirit of the house of the Lord created a special experience in the Rome temple.

Unfortunately, we were with a large group of people and so we were ushered through pretty quickly. We wished we could spend much longer looking at the rooms. We even tried to sneak back in for a second tour, but that didn't work out.

symbolic olive tree on temple grounds

The visitor's center is almost just as impressive as the temple. The Christus with the statues of the twelve original apostles in the background is breathtaking.

A beautiful stain-glass mural takes up an entire wall and an area for children that looks like and represents a house for an eternal family are also in the visitor's center.

Everything is supposed to match the history and location of Italy, and you could truly see those details.

We stayed until after dark, admiring the view of the sunset.

And the temple shining bright in the dark night.

Brigham got his picture taken in front of the olive tree and then we were off to our hotel to get some rest.

How could we not love the day filled with the temple and the wonder of God's creations in the marble quarries? The temple was the main reason we booked this trip, and to remember our experience as it was dedicated and watch as the entire First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles joined there together and broadcasted stories and inspiring messages filled me with nostalgia and gratitude for our opportunity to see this temple in a place of so much religious history.